One Year Later
by dramatic owl
Summary: A year later Arnold celebrates another Christmas and makes a discovery. Written as a gift fic for SaraJaye for fandom stocking.


Summary: A year later Arnold celebrates another Christmas and makes a discovery. Written as a gift fic for SaraJaye for fandom_stocking.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just the story.

* * *

 **ONE YEAR LATER**

They'd all shared a lovely Christmas morning at the Sunset Arms boarding house, exchanging gifts as part of their yearly Secret Santa and unwrapping them together around the Christmas tree. As usual Grandma had prepared a breakfast more suited to a different holiday - home-made coffee cake topped with cream cheese frosting and mixed strawberries and blueberries arranged in a design of the American flag, served with a 'Happy Fourth of July, everybody!' greeting. Even after so many years of this sort of thing Arnold wasn't sure if she really had the holidays confused or if she was being deliberately contradictory.

At around one o'clock Arnold, Grandpa, Grandma and a couple of the boarders walked over to the Java Hut, the one place in town they knew was open that afternoon; they wanted to get out for a little while. They sat around a large table with coffees and hot chocolates. Gerald had spent the morning with his own family and joined them at the cafe.

"Excuse me," said Mai Hyunh at one point, rising to her feet. "I want to say hello to a friend."

Mai had been reunited with her father last Christmas for the first time in twenty years - a reunion put in motion by Arnold as a gift after he drew Mr. Hyunh's name for the Secret Santa. At first he'd thought he failed in his effort. They were unable to obtain the last gift on Mr. Bailey's shopping list: Nancy Spumoni signature snow boots, the hottest item of the year and nowhere to be found on the day of Christmas Eve. Though they'd bought everything else in exchange for information on Mai Hyunh, Mr. Bailey said no boots, no deal. Arnold dejectedly returned home, Gerald by his side reassuring him that he'd done his best and that meant everything.

On Christmas morning, Arnold was about to explain to Mr. Hyunh why there was no gift under the tree for him. The doorbell rang, interrupting him, and a minute later Mai Hyunh walked into the room. Arnold was at a loss to explain how she came to be there, since Mr. Bailey had flat out said he wouldn't search for her. Gerald suggested that it was a Christmas miracle and maybe he had an angel watching over him.

Since then Mai visited with her father often and she'd been invited to participate in this year's Secret Santa and celebration. She was now a lovely young woman of twenty-two, but she wasn't even a toddler during the height of the Vietnam War, when Mr. Hyunh gave her to an American soldier who was evacuating as many people as possible to the United States. They only had room to take one more and he let his daughter go so she could have a chance at a better life in a better place. It took years of hard work for him to earn the money to come over himself and find her; he finally arrived in Hillwood two decades after he gave her up.

Arnold and Gerald drank their hot chocolates, joked and shared stories of their Christmas morning, their classmates, their plans for the week they had off from school. While they were talking Arnold happened to glance across the room. Mai Hyunh was standing by a table near the window, talking to _Helga Pataki_ , the last person he would expect her to be acquainted with. Phoebe Heyerdahl was sitting at the table too but she didn't seem very involved in the conversation. Mai definitely knew Helga.

"What's wrong?" Gerald asked, turning to follow his gaze. "Hey, I didn't know Mai Hyunh knew Helga and Phoebe."

"She knows Helga. Gerald, remember we thought I'd failed at convincing Mr. Bailey to find Mai, and then she showed up the next day after all? Do you think—"

Gerald laughed in disbelief. "Helga? You think Helga Pataki of all people is your Christmas angel?" He shook his head. "Mai probably knows her from someplace else."

Arnold couldn't dismiss this as easily as Gerald though, even if it seemed like a long shot. Maybe she'd overheard him talking to Gerald about the gift he wanted to give Mr. Hyunh; she did seem to lurk around them sometimes. It was true that most of the time Helga was just...mean. She hated him, or at least she acted like it. But then there were times when she surprised him with her kindness and generosity. She didn't show that side of herself very often, but he'd come to love it when she did.

Maybe one day he would approach Helga about Mai Hyunh and whether she was the one who'd helped to find her, but not today. Today she would no doubt feign ignorance and call him Football Head. He would tell her that deep down she wasn't really mean and was actually a nice, sensitive person, and she would tell him he was wrong and call him Bucko. Or maybe she hadn't been involved at all and wouldn't even know what he was talking about; and would insult him anyway.

But he believed that Helga could do a kind deed like this and deep in his gut he knew she did.


End file.
